Both for extra money, and the priceless opportunity to talk to people over the age of 5 now and then, I teach a couple English classes to adults each week at night. This evening, we discussed superstitions; I told them some from my country, and they shared some from theirs. Here are a few from Japan:

The number 4 is very unlucky; its kanji is pronounced the same as the one for death. Just as in America, you won't find many buildings with 13th floors, Japan avoids the number 4 in things like hospital room numbers, parking lots, and other places.

8 is a good number.

If you lie down immediately after eating, you will turn into a cow.

When lightning strikes, you should cover your belly button.

If a funeral car passes, you should hide your thumbs. Most effective is to tuck them into your fists.

If you whistle at night, a snake will come.

You should not cut your fingernails at night, or you will not be able to be with your parents on their deathbeds.

Do not sleep with your head towards the North. That's how they lay the dead.

Similarly, a kimono or yukata should always be worn left side over right side. Right over left is how the dead are dressed.

If you are a shopowner, leaving a small pile of salt in front of your store will attract customers.

A moving truck carrying the furniture of a just-married couple must never drive backwards. Drivers of these trucks often carry cash to give to oncoming cars they might meet in narrow roads to encourage others to do any necessary reversing.

Never say words like "break" or "cut" or "separate" at a wedding, not even if you're talking about the cake, or the ribbon, or an egg, or the cheese.

Never leave your chopsticks sticking out of your rice. And definitely don't pass food directly from your own chopsticks to someone else's, because that's how bones of cremated bodies are passed at funerals.

If you find a snake's skin on the ground, you will become rich.

Wishes can be made on shooting stars.

Comments

[Karla]

Jarred, so did you, you know, do the dew?
Sorry. If I didn't type it, I would have just kept thinking it.

Tara, that chopsticks-in-rice thing is generally one of the first thing people will tell foreigners new to Japan. Sorry you had to learn the hard way, but I suppose it makes for a better story. They should make people sign a statement about it at airport immigration or something. Maybe a big sign, "Welcome to Japan" with a huge illustration of chopsticks in rice, circled with a line through it.

[Tara]

I recently visited Japan for a month and when we were discussing our superstitions with a friend who lived there, we were amazed at the number 4 belief. Who would have known?! Also, we learned quickly that you do not stick your chopsticks in your rice. My home stay mother jumped from her seat and pulled them out with a yelp of horror, grabbed the dictionary, and started to explain why I shouldn't have done that! It was very amusing. I loved visiting Japan but I do not think that I could live there without more language skills. Thanks for the blog and pictures. It's really neat to come upon sites that you can connect with in a little way. :)

[jarred]

It is good luck to wash your face in the first dew of the year. On the hills after New Year's you'll see a few dozen people upon Arthur's seat doing this. That's the first Scots superstition I could think of.

[Karla]

There's a pretty good reason for that. Not that Japanese culture largely borrowed from Chinese culture or anything like that. Of course not.

[sean]

I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised to learn that in Cantonese, the words/characters four and death have the same association with one another, for the exact same reason.